MOREHEAD, MINN. – All season long, the St. Catherine University volleyball team has pushed the top Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) teams to their limits but has been unable to come out with a win. Wednesday night, that trend unfortunately continued as the Wildcats fell to Concordia College 3-0 (23-25, 17-25, 21-25) in a tough road loss.

Despite its 0-6 record, the conference matches were never out of reach for St. Kate's, who had only been swept by one other team in MIAC play before meeting the Cobbers. The same held true Wednesday night as the Wildcats jumped out to a quick 5-3 first set lead thanks to kills from Kelly Breuer (St. Paul, Minn. / St. Croix Lutheran) and Payton Baker (Forest Lake, Minn. / Forest Lake). St. Kate's maintained that lead throughout the first set, eventually taking a 14-10 lead thanks to a four-point serving run by Libby Kreuser (White Bear Lake, Minn. / Totino-Grace).

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, after Kreuser's serving run, they hit a bit of a speed bump. Concordia scored four unanswered points, pushing St. Kate's offense out of system with strong serves from Brianna Carney. The Wildcats attempted to recover, winning the point to go up 15-14, but were never able to jump out to a substantial lead after the Cobbers run and lost the set 25-23.

Fortunately, St. Kate's has statistically been a much better team in the second and third sets all season long, scoring well over 1000 points combined in the two sets. Just like in the first set, the Wildcats jumped out to an early 5-3 lead, this time with powerful kills from Hannah Flatness (Elk Mound, Minn. / Elk Mound). However, unlike the first set, it was the Cobbers who went on the four-point serving run and took a 10-7 lead. The St. Kate's players showed resiliency, battling back to take a 12-11 lead.

The comeback, though, wasn't enough as the Wildcats serve receive struggles continued in the very next rotation. Concordia jumped to an 18-13 lead, and though it tried, St. Kate's was never able to close the gap.

After the 25-17 second set loss, the Wildcats looked to push to a fourth set with a third set victory. Unfortunately, the Cobbers opened the set by winning six straight points, putting St. Kate's hopes of a five set win in jeopardy. However, the Wildcats spent the remainder of the set slowly chipping away at Concordia's lead, eventually whittling it down to 21-19 with a kill from Kreuser. Sadly, St. Kate's comeback came up short again, as the Cobbers took the third set 25-21.

"We got off to a solid start, but then started playing not to lose rather than going after [Concordia]," volleyball head coach Corey Phelps said after the match. Phelps was hoping to end the Wildcats 33 year drought, where they have been unable to beat Concordia on the road. 

Breuer hit a team leading seven kills in the match, while Kreuser and Abby Palmer (Pequot Lakes, Minn. / Pequot Lakes) both finished the match with six kills. Shanee Herd (Alexandria, Minn. / Jefferson) led the team defensively with 20 digs, while Palmer and Bailey Auseth (Wanamingo, Minn. / Kenyon-Wanamingo) each had 13 digs in the match.

The Wildcats record falls to 11-13 with the loss, and the team is still looking for its first win in the MIAC. However, they will have to wait a few days before taking on another conference opponent. Instead, St. Kate's will play in a home quadrangular tournament on Saturday, October 15, featuring Macalester College, Loras College, and the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The Wildcats will play UW-Stout at 12 p.m. Saturday afternoon and will close the quadrangular with a 4 p.m. match against Loras. All matches will take place in the Butler Center gym.